Srinagar, July 10: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Wednesday accorded sanction to the release of funds amounting to over Rs 55.58 crore through advance positioning in favour of the Family Welfare Department under the Centrally-sponsored scheme ‘Family Welfare Programme’ for its utilisation during the Financial Year 2024-25.
An order to this effect was issued by the Secretary, Health & Medical Education Department, Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah. “Sanction is hereby accorded to the release of funds amounting to Rs 5558.75 lakh in favour of Director Family Welfare, J&K as advance positioning under CSS ‘Family Welfare Programme’ through Budget, Estimation, Allocation and Monitoring System (BEAMS),” the order reads.
It said the Finance Department has sanctioned the amount in reference to the recent decision of the administrative council headed by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.
The funds, according to the order, shall be utilised subject to certain conditions and the expenditure shall be booked on admissible items as mentioned in the guidelines of the CSS-Family Welfare Programme and after fulfilling all requisite formalities as per rules/norms.
The funds shall be utilised specifically for the purpose for which these have been authorised and no diversion of funds shall be permissible under any circumstances in the bank account unnecessarily, it said.
The order said the funds shall not be parked and the conditions stipulated in BEAMS may be adhered to in letter and spirit.
It is pertinent to mention that this was a pressing burning issue for the employees of the family welfare department who did not get their salaries on time. The decision is a major reform aimed at employees’ welfare for the department of health and medical education.
As per the Secretary Health & Medical Education, this is the first time that funds have been released in advance in favour of the family welfare department. This will obviate the chances of any delay in the release of salaries to the employees of the family welfare department.